6th Sunday after Pentecost
July 16, 2017
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
Our family has four different dinnertime prayers that we
use, depending on how hungry we are or who gets to pick it. My son’s current
favorite, if he gets his choice, is the Johnny Appleseed song. We change the
“I” to “we” and the “me” to “us,” because God’s been good to us as a family.
You’re welcome to join me if you know it. I may or may not be on key.
[Sing:]
O, the Lord’s been good to us. And so we thank the Lord, for giving us the
things we need: the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to
us. Amen.
The
folklore around Johnny Appleseed makes him seem quite a bit like the seed
bomber that the farmer in our Gospel story was. Just tossing out seeds wherever
he went. Not really caring where they landed. Planting apple trees all over the
place. That’s the legend. Johnny Appleseed’s real name was John Chapman, and he
didn’t actually seed bomb. He intentionally planted nurseries, not orchards, of
apple trees throughout the Ohio River Valley and into New York State. John
Chapman wasn’t really wasteful or careless or foolish. He “built fences around
them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a
neighbor… and returned every year or two to tend the nursery.”[1]
Johnny Appleseed was deliberate and purposeful with where he planted those
apple seeds. He made sure they were tended to and nurtured.
Yet,
at a glance, the farmer in this story that Jesus tells does not seem to be like
that. This farmer appears wasteful and foolish. He appears to not really care
where the seeds fall. Let the chips falls where they may, right? But to a
farmer, and I know some of you know this better than me, so please correct me
if I’m wrong, the seeds are important, right? You pay attention to where you
plant them because you want them to produce a good harvest. So, why doesn’t
this farmer pay more attention to where the seeds fall?? Why does he let them
fall on rocky ground and on the path and among thorns? Why doesn’t he plant
them all in good soil? It doesn’t really seem to make sense. Especially since
we know this farmer is God.
Let’s
start with the explanation that Jesus gives. Jesus tells that parable to a huge
crowd, but the explanation for the parable he only gives to his disciples. He
tells them that the seeds are the Word of God’s kingdom. Those who only hear
them and don’t understand, that’s like the seed that fell on the path. The
seeds on the rocky ground are like those who hear the Word with joy, but as
soon as the going gets tough, they fall away, because their roots don’t go down
very deep. The thorns just completely choke the seeds that fall on them, like
getting distracted by the cares and shiny things of this world. And then
there’s the good soil. There the seeds can put down roots and grow into plants
and bear fruit.
So,
the usual takeaway from this is: be good
soil. Seek to understand the Word. Grow and develop and mature as a
Christian. Keep your heart set after God and not any of the shiny things of
this world. Just hearing the Word is not enough. James 1:22 says, “Do not
merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Don’t
be just hearers of the Word. Be doers of the Word. The kind of ground that seed
is sown in makes a difference. Everywhere the farmer scatters seed hears the
Word, but each type of ground responds to it differently. There’s ground that’s
full of rocks that prevent the roots from growing very deeply. There’s ground
that’s actually been cleared of plants in order to be the path. There’s ground
that’s full of thorns that choke whatever else tries to grow there. And there’s
that good, rich, black soil where plants can be happy and grow. All of those
types of grounds hear the Word. But just hearing the word is not enough to be
happy and grow. We are called to bear fruit. We bear fruit and produce a
harvest when we are not just hearers of the word but doers. And when we become
doers, we join God in God’s work. We become co-laborers with God.
You
see, we join God in God’s work of sowing
seeds. We’re not the head farmer; we’re more like farmhands. We plant the seeds
where we’re told to plant them, not where we choose. We are not in charge; we
don’t get to decide. We go where we’re sent, regardless of our opinion of the
place. And if the farmer wants seeds sown in ground that we don’t think is that
great, we do it, anyway. God’s the head farmer; we are simply the servants.
Jesus tells his disciples in the Gospel of Luke that “When you have done
everything required of you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special
praise. We have only done our duty.’”[2]
That’s all we’re doing is what God has asked us to do. And it very likely may
go unrecognized and un-praised. The point is that you do it. You are obedient
to the call God has placed on your life. There is a call that is specific to
each person and there is a call that is for all who follow Jesus. Go, make
disciples of all nations. Share the Good News about Jesus. Be his witness.
Turns
out discipleship, living the life of a disciple of Jesus, is a lot like
farming. Through your life, through your witness, you scatter seeds. Some seeds
you never know if anything came of them. Other seeds you get to nourish and
cultivate and water. And yet even with careful planning, there are still always
things we can’t control. Drought. Flooding. Tornados. “Even the best farmers
cannot control the world around them” and the crop is affected both by our
orderly plans or watering and nurturing and by things we over which we have no
control.[3]
Some years it’s a bumper crop. Some years you lose a crop. Farming involves
risk and failure. It involves investment. And you want the most return on your
investment, right? Yet sometimes we lose our investment. Sometimes it does not
turn out well. In the case of this farmer, remember that the seeds are God’s
word. “We believers are charged with the responsibility of farming God’s Word.”[4]
We plant seeds, we water them, we tend to them. But Paul makes it clear in 1
Corinthians that it is only God who makes them grow. “Neither the one who
plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each
be rewarded according to their own labor. We are God’s coworkers.”[5]
God knows some people are going to reject God; that’s their choice. We do the
work assigned to us. And if you start to feel discouraged, remember what God
said through the prophet Isaiah, “As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and
making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for
the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return
to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for
which I sent it.”[6] It
will be okay. It may be frustrating at times, but God’s got it under control.
You
know why? Because in another sense, we’re
the seeds God is sowing. And seeds are all about potential. Is the seed
going to grow into a beautiful plant and bear fruit? Or is it going to be a
dud? Or get swept away? In other words, are you going to bloom where you’re
planted? Or are you going to refuse to put down roots and stay shallow, like
those seeds on the rocky ground? It is said that your life is the only Bible
some people will ever read. The way you live your life, the witness you give
simply by how you go about things is noticed. Problem is that the world has
noticed that our lives aren’t too different from non-believers. We’ve gotten
distracted by all the shiny things and worldly comforts. Or maybe we’ve got
Stockholm Syndrome and don’t want to live
differently. Brothers and sisters, for those of us who follow Jesus, our lives should be different. We are called to
bear fruit. Our lives should share the word of God’s kingdom, of salvation, of
God’s extravagant love for
the whole world.
The
new name for the parable of the prodigal son is the parable of the father’s
extravagant love. Even though the younger son demanded his inheritance early,
even though he ran away with it, even though he squandered it, the father was
always waiting back at home with open arms, with extravagant love. God loves
the whole world so much that God sent the Son, Jesus, not to judge the world
but to save it. Extravagant love. It turns out there’s not too much difference
between extravagance and foolishness. That farmer sure appears foolish, wasting
seed like that. It seems wasteful and extravagant. It wasn’t how Johnny
Appleseed went about things. Yet the purpose behind those seeds, behind the
apple seeds, behind you and me, is life and transformation. And not transformation
for our own sake; we aren’t here for us. We’ve already established that, right?
There’s no room for egoism here and wanting praise and recognition. We’re lowly
farmhands. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the
transformation of the world, for the transformation of our community. We’re not
here for ourselves. We’re here for the sake of the world.
For
a plant to be happy and grow you need good soil and good seeds and a nurturing
farmer. Turns out we’re the seeds. Choose to be a good seed. We decide how we
respond to God’s Word and which soil we’re going to be. Choose to be good soil.
God is the good farmer, the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep,
the extravagantly loving father. We do our work as the farmhands, not knowing in
advance what the yield may be. Good soil, good seed, and a nurturing
farmer. All three are needed for a
bumper crop. God alone gives the growth.
God has said that his Word will not return to him empty. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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